


Of Fire and Water and Homes

by Numenorean_32875



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cute, Falling In Love, First Kiss, I'm sorry if it's trash, Keith (Voltron)-centric, M/M, My first fic, a tiny bit of angst, help me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 04:43:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11752263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Numenorean_32875/pseuds/Numenorean_32875
Summary: A journey of Keith's from alone to finding a home.And finding Lance along the way.





	Of Fire and Water and Homes

**Author's Note:**

> Yo fam! This is my very first fic, of any fandom, so I know it's a little clumsy and clunky! I might go back and make some edits some time, but for now I just decided to get it off of my google doc and send it out into the world!! I hope you enjoy it!!
> 
> Also <3 @ my guuuurl Pholo for convincing me to write and and being my best fandom buddy. <3333

It was stupid. It was so fucking stupid that when it finally happened Keith’s brain rejected it as reality almost immediately. But Lance’s lips on his were so insistent, so warm and chapped and fierce that just maybe…..

It was real. 

Nine months earlier:  
Things had finally gotten… Better? Maybe? Between Keith and Lance. The incessant, obnoxious, snide comments from Lance had finally stopped, (Keith would never admit how much they hurt, even to himself) and melded into something warmer, something gentler. Something that felt an awful lot like acceptance. Keith couldn’t remember really ever having that, but now that he held it, the thought of letting it go makes his chest clench in an unpleasant way. He wasn’t sure why, he didn’t need any of them; but he thinks maybe that night when Lance was mocking him (gentler this time) and Pidge and Hunk and Shiro and even Allura were smiling at them, laughing… He thinks maybe it has something to do with that.  
Lance smiled at him too, now. Not the sarcastic, biting smile that Keith had been gifted with since back in the Garrison, but a real one, cocky and brighter than the high summer sun shining off the sea. Not that Keith had ever visited the ocean. But Lance, with his long body, with his sunlight smile and his all-encompassing, deep ocean blue eyes…. Somehow if Keith were to imagine the sea, it would look a lot like Lance, he thinks. 

Six months earlier:  
Keith had hung out with the other Paladins, of course he has, he doesn’t spend all his time on the training deck.  
Sometimes after a battle, when his insomnia kicks in and his body is too shaken, to exhausted to go fight robots, he goes and sits with Pidge in their tech room. (He would never admit that sometimes, the training robots’ eyes flash purple in his mind's eye; and sometimes he will come to minutes later, the robot obliterated with slashes and stabs all over it’s defeated shell and him, over it, never stopping until it literally fell to pieces under him. He would always leave the deck, after that, breathing uneven and ragged, hair and eyes wild with cornered fear. Coran never said anything about repairing the sliced up drones.)  
He would sit silently on the floor next to them tapping away, oftentimes without even an acknowledgement of his presence. But sometimes when he couldn’t stop trembling, they would slide closer to him and let him lean on their legs until he stopped breathing erratically. He wasn’t sure, but the way their eyes would slide over to him sometimes, and the way their hands would tremble over the keyboard after a particularly harrowing battle… He thinks that maybe they are the same, a bit. He leans into them first, next time. 

With Hunk it was different. Hunk was the first of the others to accept him, except for Shiro. Hunk was just… so open like that. Hunk was huggable, and steady, like how Keith would imagine the love of a family would be. Unconditional, encouraging, warm. Keith hadn’t really talked to him a lot. He hadn’t talked to anybody a lot. But sometimes, Keith would go to get a snack from the kitchen after a late night training session, and Hunk would be there, running around the kitchen, trying to make the goo into something edible, something that would remind the Paladins of home. He just... cared. So much. And Hunk would sporadically hum a tune, whisking about swift but unsteady, and the only thing that gave away his unease would be his furrowed brow. Keith would watch him those nights, arms crossed on the counter, chin propped up on his forearms. Eyes tracking his movements back and forth and back and forth until the movements slowed, calmed, and they would sit side by side at the table. They never really said anything, but if they shared some of his unnamed delicious results, well. That was their secret to keep. 

Shiro was harder to explain. Shiro was his rock. Shiro was his brother. Shiro was the hero that was within touching distance. (Not that Keith ever did.) But Shiro had no such reservations, and a hand on the shoulder or back was a regular occurrence. Shiro liked to talk, and that was okay, that was good. He talked about things Keith could talk about too, like the Garrison recruitment schedule, like the exact advantages of a hover-bike versus a classic motorcycle, like which style of martial arts was the most effective, really. (Shiro favored taekwondo, Keith himself thought karate was more direct) Shiro was there with Keith on top of the Garrison dorms when he had looked out, and saw nothing but an open sky to run away to. (Maybe there was something more up there for him, anyhow) Shiro wasn’t watching the stars, he was watching Keith. And it was okay, because when he looked up too, Keith thought that maybe they were a bit the same, too. 

What are you running from??

But then the Kerberos Mission happened, and Keith never found out. 

Keith was alone. 

But then in a single frantic, blurred day, Shiro was back, there was a magical blue lion, and then there were aliens and space ships and Galra and suddenly Keith found himself fighting to impress a magical red lion and when Red accepted him and he stared up at her he had the single, wide-eyed thought that there is no way that this was happening to him. 

And then Voltron was formed and Shiro was black and stone and force and Keith was okay, suddenly, because Shiro was back. And if he had his rock, he would be okay. Shiro would anchor them. And Pidge was green and wild and the dandelions that grew no matter the environment, thoughts steady and furious like a bee hive. Hunk was yellow and sunshine and warm summer grass waving in a gentle breeze. And Lance.

Lance was the ocean. 

But with Lance, it was hard to be alone with him. Keith didn’t really know why. He was just so…. Provocative. The way he spoke, and the way he smirked, it set Keith on fire. And half the time Keith wasn’t really sure what they were arguing about, he only knew that for some reason, when Lance had his eyes on Keith like that… It sparked his tongue into saying things he doesn’t mean, it shoots electricity down his spine to the tips of his fingers. It made him feel like he could take on Zarkon single-handedly, like he could take Red and free planet after planet as long as Lance had his eyes on him like that. And so he reacted, he bantered, and he didn’t even try to stop the odd warm feeling that grew in his chest when Lance looked at him. 

But one night, one night when Keith’s nightmares woke him, wild and twisted and strangled in the bed-sheets, one night when Pidge wasn’t in the tech room, and Hunk wasn’t in the kitchen, when Keith went trembling to the observatory, he found Lance there. And god, he was beautiful, there in the cold he’d stretched out, his jaw in sharp profile and eyes a deep indigo as the light from distant stars stretched blue and gentle against his face. He looked up when Keith walked in, still gasping and shaking, sweating and red-faced and hands clenched into fists. He didn’t say anything, but looked back out the window, and scooted over in a clear invitation. Keith scrambled over, pride forgotten, and curled up into Lance’s side. Lance was cool, where Keith was unbearably hot and when Lance put an arm over his shoulders to draw him closer, Keith closed his eyes, and breathed. 

Four months earlier:  
Little did Keith know these nights in the observatory would become routine. He still went to Hunk and Pidge, but afterward, he would go join Lance, and they would sit side pressed against side staring out into the faraway reaches of space. And after weeks of silence, of peace, Lance whispers into the night. 

“I miss home”. And Keith had never had a home to miss, but maybe, he thinks, he could miss this, Voltron, the team, Shiro and Pidge and Hunk and Lance and Allura and Coran and maybe…. This could be his home now. Keith mulls it over. He finds he quite likes the thought. 

 

Three months earlier:  
The team continued on, fighting Galra, freeing planets, and Keith and Lance continued to bicker and banter, but in the observatory… Lance started talking, and Keith started talking in turn. Lance told him stories about his family, of his siblings and their adventures and he talked about them with so much love, it shone in every corner of his face, and it was so potent Keith could feel it so keenly, so longingly that it was almost his own. Lance talked about the beach, and snow cones and sticky fingers and broken bones and pruned skin and sunburns and sand brushed off bare backs by Mama’s hands and so much love and laughter Keith felt like he was drowning in it, in the ocean of Lance’s eyes, in the love Lance had for his home, his family. 

Keith talked about being alone. Which Keith had never really thought of as sad before, but now that he had Voltron… He kind of realized it is. But it was beautiful too, he assured Lance, who looked doubtful. It was beautiful when the stars in the desert became more than just something to run away to. They became a map, a friend, a shelter when he had nothing else. And when you’re alone, the silence wasn’t really silent, it was filled with creatures and winds and the way the darkness took shape, it made you feel like you weren’t alone. Not really. 

And Keith would look at Lance and feel that warm thing in his chest and..  
Oh no. 

 

Two months earlier:  
Keith almost wished he could avoid Lance. The instant he recognized that warm feeling in his chest he knew he was in trouble. He knew he could be jeopardizing Voltron with these, these feelings. But Keith was helpless. It was too late for him. Helpless against the smile that tugged his lips when Lance cracked a particularly funny joke, helpless against the excited shine of his eyes, helpless under the gentle nightly press of his shoulder on Keith’s. Being with Lance was like learning to be comfortable wading into the ocean, and staring out into this impossible sea. Impossible and beautiful and trailing your fingers through the water makes you wonder what the depths look like, makes you want to map out the edges and the ridges, map out home. And Lance…. Lance was starting to feel like home. Keith couldn’t bring himself to hate the thought. 

What Keith didn’t really notice, was how Lance’s eyes started straying to him during their talks, during training, during dinner. He didn’t really notice the contemplative (heated,scared,longing) look in his eyes and he definitely didn’t notice that when Keith laughed, Lance went silent, and his eyes grew big and warm and… 

Oh no. Thought lance. 

One month earlier:  
And then suddenly, Lance and Keith became Lance&Keith. One day they just… clicked, where before they had been missing each other, and rubbing rough edges. When they trained, they trained back to back, supporting and protecting each other as an unstoppable force and an immovable object all rolled into one. When they ate, they ate side by side, trading small looks and small words and they never seemed to notice how close they sat, but the team did. And when they finally left the observatory in the wee hours of the morning, they comforted themselves with soft goodbyes, and fell asleep to tender thoughts of the other. 

And when Lance talked about home, Keith started to feel an ache underneath this overwhelming warmth, a longing that grew more powerful every time he caught Lance looking at him when Lance thought he was unobserved. He always looked away before Keith could decipher the look in his eyes. And when Lance talked about the beach, Keith just watched him. 

It was inevitable, he supposes, that the ocean became his home as well. 

Present:  
It was one of those times. One of those times when Lance and Keith were training and through their focus, they bickered. And Lance was so much smoother now, so much more confident, grappling like this with him coupled with his teasing smirk and fond eyes were setting Keith alight. And Keith really couldn’t hear half the things that were coming out of his own mouth over the rush of blood through his ears and his own accelerated heart beat, but he was vaguely aware that they were arguing about… breakfast food?? Lance was saying something about breakfast burritos being the breakfast to end all breakfasts but just then he dodged one of Keith’s jabs by bending over and flipping onto his feet in the smoothest twist and Keith saw red. 

When he regained his vision moments later he was pinned under Lance on the training deck floor, staring up into his stunned eyes. Their breaths fanned off each other’s cheeks, and their startled gazes met. And Keith, Keith was so weak for this boy with the summer smile and the ocean eyes and he just melted underneath him, closing his eyes and turning his head to the side, breathing. But Lance wasn’t moving?? His wrists were still held under Lance’s hands, his hips still pinned by Lance’s straddled weight. Keith opened his eyes and looked at Lance questioningly and flushed when he saw the longing (? maybe??) look on Lance’s face and Goddammit he can’t think straight with Lance this close above him being so beautiful and perfect and- The look on Lance’s face changed to shock and oh no Keith said that aloud- 

And then suddenly, Lance’s expression turned to one of determination, and his lips were on Keith's. 

Oh. 

It was Keith’s turn to freeze. There was no way this was reality. This was some stupid, cliche fever dream that being in the healing pods one too many times had induced. How did he get from talking about breakfast burritos to being pinned and kissed against the training room floor? By Lance?? Who had only just started to tolerate him??

But Keith’s thoughts trailed off as Lance’s kiss faded from the fierce and insistent thing it had been before, clearly uncertain about Keith’s lack of response. Lance started to draw away but Keith startled out of his thoughts and quickly put his hands on Lance’s neck, closing his eyes and drawing Lance back in. Keith kissed him with all the fire and longing and aching that’s been lying in his chest for months and Lance kissed him back in ebbs and waves, their own little ocean. Keith’s hands slid down to hold Lance’s jaw tenderly, and the kiss gentled off until Lance broke contact, but only retreated until he could see Keith’s still closed eyes. And when Keith lazily and contentedly opened those grey-violet pools Lance lost his breath, stolen by the fire that was Keith. 

And for a few moments they stared at each other. And then they were hugging, Lance’s full weight pressed down on Keith as he pressed his I like you’s into whatever part of Lance he could reach, his cheek, his neck, his shoulder. And Lance was murmuring things back like me too and you’re beautiful and something that sounded an awful lot like a whispered don’t leave me.

And then the team walked in, Pidge screaming something about finally goddammit you assholes and Hunk was complaining that he needed brain bleach and Shiro was unsuccessfully fighting a happy smile. Lance laughed and got up, pulling Keith to his feet. He kissed Keith on the temple, and dragged him by the hand over to where the rest of them stood. And Keith looked at the hand holding his, and looked at Lance’s sunshine smile and Pidge’s exaggerated disgust and Hunk holding a hand over his eyes and Shiro laughing so carefree and yeah, okay. 

This was home now. 

Keith smiled.


End file.
